Freight on the Iron Range
The Canadian-owned Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific line (now part of Canadian National) links the Midwestern United States with the CN’s east-west line in Ontario and provides CN with a direct route to the Port of Duluth on Lake Superior.
According to The Historical Guide to North American Railroads, Third Edition (Kalmbach Books 2014), the DW&P’s history traces back to the Duluth, Virginia & Rainy Lake Railway, a logging railroad that opened in 1901. The line was soon purchased by backers of the Canadian Northern Railway and the railroad renamed Duluth, Rainy Lake & Winnipeg. In 1908, it extended north to connect with the Canadian Northern (a predecessor of Canadian National) at Fort Frances, Ontario. A year later, it was renamed the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway. In 1912, the line reached its southern end at Duluth.
In 1918, the Guide notes, control of CN passed to the Canadian government and the DW&P became a CN subsidiary. The ’Peg’ became a key route for shipments from western Canada to the U.S. Upper Midwest. When this photograph was taken in 1991, the ‘Peg’ was enjoying a surge in traffic due to the 1989 passage of the Canada-U. S. Free Trade Agreement.
The DW&P line remains active although the railway lost its individual identity in the early 1990s with the “CN North America” branding program, which replaced paint schemes of most CN subsidiaries with CN’s colors. The DW&P was officially merged into CN’s Wisconsin Central subsidiary in December 2011.
Click to view a steam-era shot of the Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific
